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Catch-up bookkeeping: getting years of bank statements into Xero or MYOB

A catch-up job usually starts the same way: a client who's months or years behind, a pile of PDF bank statements across several accounts, and a BAS or tax deadline. The slow part isn't the reconciling — it's getting every transaction off those PDFs and into the ledger. Here's a practical way to run it.

Convert a statement freeSee pricing

Plan the job before you convert anything

  • List every account involved — everyday, business cheque, savings, credit cards — and the period each one needs to cover.
  • Check where each account's bank feed (if any) starts. Only the period before it needs importing.
  • Collect the statements as separate PDFs, one per statement, named by account and month. It makes gaps obvious.
  • Work one account at a time, oldest period first. MYOB recommends importing and reconciling a large backlog one month at a time, and the same discipline works well in Xero.

Convert in bulk — but verify each statement

On the Business plan, Ledger Pilot takes up to 50 PDFs in one batch and returns a result for each statement. Download each one in the format you need: Xero CSV, MYOB (QIF), QuickBooks, Excel or CSV.

Each statement is checked on its own: the transactions have to add up from the opening balance to the closing balance, to the cent. On a catch-up job that check is what catches the real problems — a statement missing a page, or one that belongs to a different account — before they end up in the ledger.

If a client has merged several statements into one PDF, Ledger Pilot can split it where each statement prints its own period. Scanned statements, and layouts our standard parser doesn't recognise yet, can be read with AI-assisted extraction and are only used if they reconcile to the cent.

Import period by period

Import each converted statement into the matching account, then reconcile it before moving to the next month. In Xero that's Import a Statement on the bank account; in MYOB it's importing the QIF file into the bank account (Get Statement in AccountRight). Working in order keeps each statement's closing balance lined up with the next statement's opening balance, so problems show up early.

How many pages will I need?

A monthly statement can run to several pages, so a multi-year backlog adds up. The Business plan covers 1,000 pages a month. If a backlog is bigger than that, a one-off catch-up pack (2,000 or 5,000 page credits that stay on your account and are used after your monthly allowance) covers it without changing your plan — see the Pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I convert statements from several accounts in one go?
Yes — but keep each batch to one bank, since you choose the bank for the batch. Each statement gets its own result and reconciliation check, and you import each file into its matching account.
My client sent several statements merged into one PDF. What happens?
If each statement in the file prints its own statement period in a format we recognise, Ledger Pilot splits the PDF at those boundaries and converts each statement separately, with its own reconciliation check. If the boundaries aren't clear enough to split safely, we tell you rather than guess — upload each statement as its own PDF instead (batch upload on the Business plan takes up to 50 files at once).
Some of my old statements are scanned. Will they convert?
They can be. When our standard parser can't produce a result that reconciles to the cent — scanned or photographed pages, or a layout we don't recognise yet — the statement can be read with AI-assisted extraction (PDFs up to 30 pages). We only use that result if it reconciles to the cent, and the conversion tells you when AI-assisted extraction was used. How that data is handled is explained on our Security page and in our Privacy Policy.
Does Ledger Pilot do the reconciliation or coding for me?
No — it gets the transactions out of the PDFs accurately and checks each statement adds up. Matching, coding and the BAS work stay with you in Xero or MYOB.
Which banks does Ledger Pilot support?
Statements from 15 major Australian banks — Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, NAB, Macquarie, ING, Bendigo, Bankwest, Suncorp, St.George, Bank of Queensland, UBank, ME Bank, AMP Bank and HSBC Australia — plus Latitude and St.George credit card statements.
Do you keep copies of my clients' statements?
Uploaded PDFs are encrypted, used only to extract the transactions, and automatically deleted from our systems within 24 hours — along with the extracted results. If a statement needs AI-assisted extraction, it's also processed by Anthropic under its own retention terms. Our Security page and Privacy Policy have the details.

How we handle statement data: Security · Privacy Policy

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